The Miami Dolphins needed a win against the New York Jets and a Denver Broncos loss to sneak into the postseason. But before their Week 18 battle with the Jets was even over, the Broncos ended any chance at drama with an emphatic 38-0 demolition of the backups-led Kansas City Chiefs.
Heading into Week 18, the AFC already had six teams with double-digit wins that clinched a spot in the playoffs. The Broncos improved to 10-7 on the year with their win — putting themselves out of reach of the 8-8 Dolphins and 9-8 Cincinnati Bengals.
Miami wasn’t exactly handling its own business either. At the time that the Broncos’ blowout victory ended, the Dolphins trailed the Jets, 25-13.
The Dolphins are the owners of the NFL’s longest playoff victory drought, which is now set extend to over a quarter-century. The team’s last postseason victory was in December 2000 in Dave Wannstedt’s first season as the team’s head coach.
While Miami made the playoffs in each of the first two years of Mike McDaniel’s tenure, the Dolphins lost 34-31 in a playoff game against the Bills two years ago and 26-7 against the Chiefs last January. That pair of losses made it six straight playoff defeats for the Dolphins.
